Sportsman Award Among Surprises at Banquet

(TOLEDO, Ohio - November 19, 2012) - The H.G. Adcox Sportsman of the Year Award is presented every year to honor an individual or group that exhibits the ability to show class in competition and truly defines sportsmanship to fellow competitors, officials, and fans in the ARCA Racing Series.

Last year, Herb Adcox presented the award on behalf of his son, award namesake Grant Adcox, to Roush Yates Engines' Nick Ramey (pictured). Grant Adcox drove to success in the ARCA Racing Series before losing his life in a NASCAR accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1989. Ramey won the award for his consistent willingness to assist any team in the ARCA garage.

Like the Spirit Award and the Marcum Award, the recipient of the Sportsman of the Year Award is a surprise, unveiled only at the December 8 Championship Awards Banquet in Indianapolis.

Who will win the 2012 Sportsman of the Year Award? All past recipients are listed below, and one key ARCA name will join that list in just 19 days.

H.G. Adcox Sportsman of the Year Award

Year and Winner

2011 - Nick Ramey

2010 - Chad McCumbee

2009 - Joey Coulter

2008 - Dexter Bean

2007 - Kevin Cywinski

2006 - Brad Smith

2005 - Brandon Knupp

2004 - Brent Sherman

2003 - Jason Jarrett

2002 - Shelby Howard

2001 - James Hylton

2000 - Wayne Hixson

1999 - Chuck Weber

1998 - Ed Rensi

1997 - Jeff Finley

1996 - Ed Dixon

1995 - Dill Whittymore

1994 - Terry Shirley

1993 - Bob Keselowski

1992 - Bobby Massey

1991 - Mark Gibson

1990 - Glenn Brewer

1989 - Bob Dotter

1988 - Grant Adcox

1987 - Lee Raymond

1986 - Gary and Russell Roulo

1985 - Bosco Lowe

1984 - Bob Brevak

1983 - Jerry Churchill

1982 - Marvin Smith

1981 - Larry Smith

1973 - Wayne Watercutter

1968 - Don Violet

1967 - Leon Van Atta

1965 - Paul Wensink

1963 - Jim Cushman

Tickets are now on sale for the celebration which will wrap ARCA's 60th Anniversary Season.

Champion Chris Buescher, other top series drivers and special award winners, and key ARCA figures will be honored in the series' first postseason trip to Indianapolis.

The banquet will be held on Saturday, December 8 at the Indiana Convention Center's Sagamore Ballroom in Indianapolis, Indiana, in conjunction with the International Motorsports Industry Show (IMIS). The public is welcome.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned 30 ARCA national champions in 60 seasons since 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time. Next season, ARCA will appear for the first time at Road America in Wisconsin.

Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in four professional touring series and local weekly events.